Bored

Very bored....

Very, Very bored....

Now you probably are too lol.

I still haven't even been able to do ANYTHING outside *sobs*. I've been cleaning tack, calling around about getting the zippers in my boots fixed, reading riding books and trying to catch up on blogs that I've been missing out on but the one thing I really want to be doing I can't.

I wanted to at least have a picture of Sora getting a bath today but it was hot enough that my sister refused to come out to take a picture and holding a hose in one hand and a camera in the other is not likely to end in the survival of my camera. Because I don't have any new pictures you get to enjoy the outtake from our last picture taking session where my horse is checking out my sister =)
The weather this Sunday is finally going to be cooler and I truly can't wait to get outside again! I've just finished reading Empowered Horses by Imke Spilker and it is one of the simplest, most enlightening and uplifting books,much-less horse books, I've ever read. It has two main suggestions for improvement that I can't wait to try. Namely her version of playing is very different than I've been trying and she emphasis the importance of teaching a horse to step carefully under their body. We'll work on it on Sunday and maybe I'll even be able to get a new video!

Finally news =)

First, this weekend I'll probably be going riding with Erika again, either on Sunday or both Saturday and Sunday. We're going back through our little town and Erika was so impressed that she told her friends so I'll be tour guide to some other people as well. I can't wait!

Secondly, two of my AND friends, namely Hannah and Ivy, have been invited to speak and present at a big horse expo in Wisconsin. At this point I'm planning on going to cheer both of them on but it depends a little on my school schedule.

Finally a fun video of someone who is much better at multitasking then me.

Humidity Blues

Recently I've been extremely unmotivated, mostly it's due to my work schedule and the incredible heat and humidity that we've been having. Also, probably because of the heat and bugs, Sora has been unmotivated as well and we end up butting heads when we spend time together. Two irritable mares annoying each other lol.

Today the heat isn't sooo bad but because of the humidity the horses, standing completely still in the shade, are absolutely soaked with sweat. Even if I felt up to dealing with the heat I can't ask Sora to move because it would be near abuse in this weather.

I have come up with some interesting hot weather activities to keep our horses occupied. I've had them bobbing for apples and have filled up a huge tub of water for them to splash in and dump on themselves. Today I went out with a sponge and got the worst of the sweat off of Jackson and Sora. Khepri was having none of it and was likely to just get sweatier because she was upset if I had continued. I have worked on some of Sora's simple and quiet tricks while standing in the shade but even then my temper is short so I've been avoiding anything tough. Sora has wildly improved on the Cordeo and I hardly use her halter anymore. She's also learning to pick up each foot on a number cue. Right now I still need to point at the hoof I want lifted but soon I won't even need that anymore.

I have been online a lot more because of the heat and would love to share what one of my friends in currently accomplishing with her mare. Hannah lives a ways north of me and we've met up a couple of times. We met on the AND forum and after finding that we lived quite close to each other became friends. This video is of Hannah riding her four-year-old PRE mare named Maia. This is after only a handful of times cantering with someone on her back and as Hannah explains she's still unbalanced partially because of Hannah's position. If you would like to see further back story you can go to youtube and see what Hannah has to say.

I'm amazed at the trust and communication between Hannah and Maia and I'm incredibly amazed by how far she's come. Hannah has done all of Maia's training bitless and most bridless and started seriously training only this spring.

I also got to spend the end of last week in Duluth at the Tall Ships festival. It was incredible and I managed to get some beautiful pictures.
The ships were mostly reproductions but still breathtaking and it was incredible to see them in the modern setting.